PSY402 Theories of Learning

1. PSY402Theories of Learning Chapter 12 (pg 303-327) Biological Influences on Learning

2. Limits to Learning • How general are the laws of learning? • Skinner’s rules work in both lab and real-world settings, across species. • Learning doesn’t explain all aspects of behavior. • Organization of behavior already exists within an organism. • Learning modifies that organization.

3. Behavior Systems Approach • Timberlake – learning changes the integration, tuning, instigation or linkages within a behavior system. • Different cues are salient to different behavior modes. • Variations in learning occur across species because their behavior systems are different. • Variations in behavior are the result of predispositions and constraints.

4. Animal Misbehavior • Breland & Breland – trained 38 species of animals for Busch Gardens. • Elicitation of foraging and food-handling instincts interferes with performance of operant routines. • Instinctive drift • Pig and piggy bank • Raccoons and food-washing

5. Explaining Misbehavior • Does misbehavior result from operant food reinforcement or classical conditioning? • Timberlake’s appetitive structure view – both kinds of learning contribute to animal misbehavior. • Pairings with food are necessary but not sufficient to evoke misbehavior.

6. Schedule-Induced Behavior • Superstitious behavior – induced by FI schedules. • Animal associates whatever it is doing at the time with the reinforcement. • Ritualistic, stereotyped behavior during the interval. • Two kinds of behavior: • Terminal – reinforcer-oriented • Interim – follows reinforcement.

7. Effects with Humans • Superstitious gambling behavior. • Schedule-induced behavior may be related to alcoholism: • Excessive drinking, eating, smoking may occur immediately after reinforcement. • Weak and inconsistent in humans. • Develops rapidly in humans, stops quickly

8. Flavor-Aversion Learning • Long-delay learning – does not depend on contiguity. • Preparedness – certain stimuli are innately more likely to be associated with a UCS than others. • Visual cues more salient to birds • Taste cues more salient to rats • Salience depends on when the animals seeks its food (nocturnal or not).

9. Applications • Cancer chemotherapy (UCS) causing nausea may be associated with hospital food (CS). • Preexposure to food without the toxic drug or drug without food may help prevent food aversions. • Coyotes and wolves can be taught to avoid attacking and eating sheep using flavor-aversion learning.

10. Explanations • Learned-Safety theory – an evolved mechanism unique to flavor-aversion to protect animal. • Ingestional neophobia – small quantities consumed at first. • Concurrent-Interference view – long delay occurs because the animal doesn’t eat anything else for a while

11. Imprinting • Lorenz – social attachment process where young ducks follow their mother. • Ducks imprint to: • Moving objects with lifelike motion • Vocalizing objects, short rhythmic sounds, not high-pitched • Objects that are the right size

12. Other Factors in Imprinting • Harlow – baby primates attach to soft terry cloth rather than wire. • Rocking rather than stationary • Warm rather than cold • Ainsworth – attachment to a responsive mother. • Occurs more easily during sensitive period of animal’s life. • 6 to 12 months for humans

13. Other Kinds of Imprinting • Sexual preferences – occurs early in development, long before sexual maturity, not modifiable later. • Food preferences – preferences established early and permanent. • People prefer familiar foods • Food aversions develop between 6 & 12 yrs

14. Nature of Imprinting • Both instinctive and associative processes are involved. • Associative-learning view – objects become familiar before fear system matures • Familiar objects reduce fear later, so become preferred due to relief. • Harlow’s studies contradict this. • Some objects are more imprintable.

15. Instinctive View of Imprinting • Organisms contain an innate schema of the imprinting object • Evoluntary pressure to learn the right thing. • Response is hard to change. • Extinction does not lead to loss of preference. • Abused primates and children cling to abusive mothers despite punishment.

16. Avoidance of Aversive Events • Species-specific defense reactions (SSDR) – instinctive responses to specific dangers. • Rats – running, freezing, fighting. • Cues predicting danger also select the specific response. • Escape and avoidance behaviors are learned more readily when they incorporate SSDR.